OVERVIEW

We want to inhibit the growth of human body hair for both women and men; that is, make the hair grow more slowly (or not at all), and make pigmented hairs thinner and lighter in color. This will help reduce the frequency of shaving, waxing, plucking, and other means of depilation. We believe that the solution may come from interrupting one or more of the numerous molecular pathways that control hair growth by select molecules at relevant levels, rather than by using crude extracts from natural sources such as creosote, papaya or soy.

BACKGROUND

Effective management of unwanted body hair is a global unmet consumer need. Current hair-growth management products vary in effectiveness and the only really effective one is a prescription drug requiring frequent application. Essentially, we're seeking a technology that can reduce the frequency of "hair management events" such as shaving, make the hair-removal process easier, make removal longer-lasting, and make the regrowing hairs finer, softer, and less noticeable.

There are two major types of hair on the body: terminal and vellus. Terminal hairs are pigmented, and grow back rapidly on underarms, lower legs, and face. Vellus hair is non-pigmented, grows at a slower rate, and covers the majority of the human body.

There are numerous molecular pathways that might be targets for technologies that can slow the growth of hair. One (using a topical application of difluoromethylornithine, or DFMO) has already been validated based on clinical data: the reduction of intracellular polyamine levels. This is based in large part on the fact that polyamines are absolutely essential for hair growth and proliferation. Thus reducing the levels would lead to a slower growing follicular unit. Other similar targets to reduce cellular polyamine levels might be:

o ODC inhibition (action of DFMO)

o Antizyme activation

o Polyamine transport inhibition

o Hypusine synthetase inhibition

Independent of the mechanisms listed above, any technology that is capable of reducing cellular polyamine levels is of interest. However, other molecular technologies may also be of interest, and we don't want to limit ourselves or pre-judge your potential solution.

Preferably, your solution would have existing safety data or an extensive history of use to support broad commercial application; benchmark data against eflornithine would be ideal.

Our organization is set up to screen your samples quickly.

We are not interested at the moment in prescription drugs or in drugs that are currently prescription with potential for a switch to OTC.

CONSTRAINTS

o Potent enough to deliver efficacy when applied topically in low concentration.

o Compatible with skin-care-type moisturizers and lotions.

o Remains stable in topical formulations for >2 years.

o Material/formulation must have a measure of patent protection and meet freedom-to-practice criteria.

o Preferably, a solution involving a small molecule (<1000 MW).

POSSIBLE SOLUTION AREAS

Cancer research; cellular research; drug discovery; high throughput screening; organic chemistry.